Adaptation of the Cardiovascular and Endocrine Systems of Primary School Children to Cognitive Load When Performing a Test on a Laptop

Abstract

Adaptation of children’s body to cognitive activity is an important issue for developmental physiology. The purpose of this study was to assess the nature of short-term adaptation of the cardiovascular and endocrine systems of primary school children to cognitive load when performing a test on a laptop. Materials and methods. Using spectral and temporal analysis of heart rate variability, electrocardiography, bipolar rheoencephalography, tonometry, and enzyme immunoassay to determine cortisol concentrations in saliva, we examined 32 primary school children (10–11 years old) performing a cognitive task (Anfimov’s tables) on a laptop. The cardiovascular system parameters were assessed before and during the test, the saliva was collected before and after the cognitive load. Results. In primary school children, the process of short-term adaptation of the cardiovascular and autonomic nervous systems to cognitive load was going favourably, without straining the regulation mechanisms, and was accompanied by an increase in sympathetic influences and heart rate, a decrease in the RR interval, and an increase in the tone of medium and small vessels in the occipital regions of the brain without changes in the indicators characterizing blood flow intensity. Two types of reaction of the endocrine system to cognitive load were revealed: 1) an increase in cortisol concentration in the saliva, observed in 40 % of children; 2) a decrease in the level of cortisol, characteristic of the majority of the examined schoolchildren. The obtained results showed that short-term adaptation of heart rate and haemodynamic parameters to cognitive load in primary school children is a problem-free process. A distinctive feature of children of this age is the manifestation of a proactive response of the endocrine system to the effects of environmental factors, which manifested itself in an increase in the level of the stress hormone cortisol before cognitive load.